Direction: Tracey Deer
Country: Canada
Beans is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama set in 1990 Quebec, during an over two-month standoff between Mohawk protesters and the Canadian authorities. The debut feature of Mohawk writer-director Tracey Deer is motivated by her personal experiences, and she chronicles this piece of history through the eyes of Tekehentahkhwa (a.k.a. Beans), a 12-year-old girl living in the Kahnawake reserve with her parents (Rainbow Dickerson and Joel Montgrand) and younger sister (Violah Beauvais).
While a land dispute escalates into an armed conflict in a neighboring reserve, Beans (first appearance and central role in a feature for the young actress Kiawentiio) figures out a way to become tougher as she bonds with April (Paulina Alexis), whom she considers a brave warrior. Within a short period of time, she shifts from laid-back and obedient to an angry and rebellious teen.
Interspersed with TV footage, the shots eschew poeticism, telling the story through a frame of reference shared by harmed communities turned combatants and activists. It's a shame that Deer’s noble intentions got so obstructed by a patchy narrative, overdramatic acting - especially during the freaking moments - and a banal score. In my perspective, she missed the opportunity to make this story appealing on the screen, making instead a film too fragile to carry its own weight on its shoulders.
The director has all my respect for what she went through and for trying to do something with it, but there’s so much room to improve here in terms of filmmaking and storytelling.
